FORT ST. JOHN — With staffing shortages and a lack of resources across Canada, many Canadians are either stuck on the waiting list or being forced to travel to the United States to get medical attention.
This was the case of one Fort St. John resident. Michelle Worton started experiencing neurological symptoms days after her second COVID vaccination in December 2021. The last two years of her life have consisted of countless MRIs, blood work and visits to the emergency room.
What was once her active lifestyle, turned into a daily battle to have the energy to take care of two kids. “I experience severe headaches, cranial pressure, insomnia, cognitive deficits such as speech or mental processing, blurred, double, and tunnel vision, sound sensitivity, lapses in short-term memory, and problems with balance, upright posture and extraordinary dizziness.”
When she couldn’t get the medical attention she needed in Canada, she travelled to South Carolina to meet Dr. Sunil Patel. According to Dr. Patel, the cystic pineal gland was causing a chemical effect. The only way to relieve her condition is through a $150,000 surgery, with additional costs amounting to $200,000.
When she returned to B.C. in August, her neurologist said that no one in the province would be able to perform the surgery. Instead, he recommended a trial drug and more injections to manage the symptoms but not fix the problem.
“We’re living here in British Columbia and we’re supposed to have this extraordinary health care system or access to care, and that’s the farthest from the truth,” says Worton.
It’s a problem many Canadians are currently facing with a crumbling health care system.
“We absolutely have a crisis. We have a shortage of professionals. We have an abundance of people that are incredibly ill right now with debilitating chronic illnesses,” says Worton.
Worton was forced to sell her car and her trailer to pay for the surgery. Many community members and local businesses also raised money so she could get the medical help she needed.
“This isn’t just the fees for care in the U.S., it’s the traveling back and forth to the United States,” says Worton.
According to her, the Canadian healthcare system is broken. “Our system is broken. There is a disconnect. Canada has a lot to learn from our neighbours to the south who exhibit expertise in this field and others. They questioned the science, they have found a successful approach providing people like myself their life back... Perhaps a hybrid, private and public model. An acute or chronic condition model, or a combination. And most importantly, physicians who actually listen to their patients and demonstrate empathy, and determining the root cause of disease. Not just masking symptoms with prescriptions.”
But luckily, she met an American neurosurgeon who saved her life. “I know that there is hope, and I can absolutely say without a doubt that I couldn’t even see that up until a month ago.”